It was a head-scratching decision at the time, and now it appears that San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch wasn’t exactly onboard with Kyle Shanahan’s decision not to call a timeout before halftime.
There were two minutes left in the second quarter of Super Bowl LIV on Sunday (which the Kansas City Chiefs ultimately won 31-20) when Shanahan opted against taking one of the three timeouts the team had left. In doing so, the 49ers’ head coach neglected to stop the clock and instead allowed the Chiefs to bleed valuable ticks off the clock.
Lynch was seen in his suite signaling for a timeout. However, that would not be the case.
John Lynch wanted the timeout #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/1e5ONS7VGQ
— Kevin Boilard (@KevinBoilard) February 3, 2020
Had Shanahan had used a timeout, there would have been approximately 1:45 left in the half.
The Niners were in a tough spot from then on, which was made even tougher when tight end George Kittle was flagged for offensive pass interference down the sideline. San Fran gained 14 yards on four plays during the drive and went into the half tied with the Chiefs.
Would the final result been any different if Shanahan would have used a timeout there to conserve some valuable ticks? Who knows. But it likely wouldn’t have hurt, either.
